Jury highlights: Talents and prizes at the 49th Sehsüchte Festival!
The 49th International Student Film Festival Sehsüchte in Babelsberg presents innovative works and juries from film and animation.

Jury highlights: Talents and prizes at the 49th Sehsüchte Festival!
The jury of the 49th Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival recently met to evaluate the outstanding films for the competition. With five different juries that pay particular attention to feature films, short films, documentaries, writing and focus productions, the festival presents a variety of top-class filmmakers. The jury members in the field of feature films include, among others, the actor and theater director Burghart Klaußner, the camerawoman Anne Bolick, and the editor Anne Fabini, who was awarded the German Film Prize in 2019 for her editing in “Of Fathers and Sons”. filmuniversitaet.de reported.
The jury for short film and animation will be led by Tine Kluth, an experienced film director and animator, known for, among other things, “Shaun the Sheep” and the “Ding” music video from “Seeed”. Together with Marcus Pohlus, a professional Steadicam operator, and Alexandre Espigares, the Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film in 2014, she will evaluate the best works of the festival. The jury for documentaries also boasts renowned members, including Marc Böhlhoff, who won the German Short Film Prize in 2016.
Different juries, different categories
The specialization offers a broad perspective on the films submitted. The jury for writing addictions includes Alexander Dydyna and Ruth Toma, who are known for their scripts. Both have proven themselves at different levels of filmmaking. Toma received a nomination at the German Film Prize in 2019 for “The Boy Needs Fresh Air”.
Sebastian Colley, Grimme Prize winner and director, and Joya Thome, known from “Lauras Stern”, are part of the jury for the best writing addiction pitch. This is complemented by Cornelia Ackers, editor at BR, and Ricarda Seifried, actress who is known from “What would other people be like?” An equally strong team has been formed in Focus Production, consisting of Peter Hartwig, Grit Belitz and Anna de Paoli.
Award winners and special films
The festival has already honored several winners in various categories. The award for best feature film Lang went to “O28” directed by Otalia Caussé and her team. “Fonja” by Lina Zacher was awarded the best short film/animation, while the best documentary was “Paloma and Lobo”. Best Screenplay went to “Accept,” and the Best Pitch winner is “RIO,” directed by Zhenia Kazankina. These films offer an interesting mix of themes and styles and show the diversity and potential of young filmmakers.
The festival is also supported by a strong overall coordination team consisting of Lisa Nawrocki, Mats Sprave and Rita Strasburger. Together with a large number of guests and jury members who, among other things, provide the supporting program, this contributes to the high quality and reputation of the festival.
Sehsüchte has developed over the years into an important event within the German film festivals. It not only promotes the visibility of student films, but also plays a central role in connecting emerging talent and the cinematic community. Further information about similar events and film festivals in Germany is available here Wikipedia to find. The rich landscape of German film festivals offers filmmakers numerous platforms to tell their stories and inspire audiences.